Hello everybody,
So I just finished my first week of the second half of the term. I can't belive how fast time has gone. It feels like just yesterday that I got to London!
Anyway, Monday started out with a different schedule because we had Physical Theatre all morning to make up for the fact that it ended on Wednesday. People were half asleep and falling all over everything so we knew it was going to be a rough first day back. In Physical Theatre, we worked on neutral mask again and this time we did the "Farewell of all Farewells" which sounds simple but is actually exceptionally difficult because you have to learn how to take all emotion out of your face and place it in your body instead. We then had a break after this three hour class (!!) and moved onto Stage Combat. I tried to take the midterm notes I got into consideration and we got a new part to our combination and were told that we would get scenes by next week. We then moved onto Period Dance where we worked on all the dances and learned a new one called "Mr. Beverages Maggot". It's a very beautiful dance beside it's very strange name. Then we had a masterclass with Dame Harriet Walters!!! It was incredible and I am so happy that she came and talked to us!! That night, we were all exhausted and stayed in and did our work. I went to LDA and worked on my monologues which made me feel better for audition.
Tuesday started out as usual with our Acting class at 11 am. We had to talk about our activities that Kathy gave us and she was fine with the fact that I was unable to get into the Old Bailey to see a trial. We then talked about our homework from over the break and that was that. We then had a break and I had audition later that day. The work I did on my monologues kind of showed but I needed more time with Major Barbara. I was done with that by 3 pm and later that night, we went to see a show at the National Theatre. It was called Port and was decent but not the most incredible theatre I have seen. The lead actress had a crazy voice that was not helped by the fact that she was speaking with a Manchester accent. Kyra can do the perfect impression of it. It also did not help that I was madly hungry throughout the play and was only finally satiated when I got Tesco sandwiches. I then went home that night and ate my sandwiches.
Wednesday started as usual with Physical Theatre. We continued on with the "Farewell of All Farewells" and I had a chance to work on it in front of the class. It was a very strange activity to do with the masks but was also strangely freeing. Then I had a bit of a laughter break-down during someone elses exercise because the mask made him look like he was in a horror movie and the wave he did looked like less of a wave and more of a move before murder. It was crazy and I felt so bad for just constantly laughing, even when I wasn't laughing at him anymore. We then ended that class with critiques from Alison and she told me that I was progressing a lot and that I have grown since the beginning but I still need work on taking in the space. Then we went to Shakespeare and Leo spent a lot of time with me trying to draw out raw emotion from me which is like trying to squeeze water out of a rock. I kept trying to be open but it wasn't working. He told me that we would get it by the next day and I was not certain. I mean, Rome was not built in a day. We then had a few hour break before we went to a reading at the St.James Theatre at four pm. It was a new Timberlake Wertenbaker play about Thomas Jefferson and it was strange to see a reading about America in England. She is an American playwright and it was obvious except for the British actors doing American accents. Most of them were good except when they said Maryland or Georgia (with an R). It was a very long play but it was one of the first drafts of the play and even still, the writing was beautiful. We then returned home that night and did more work.
Thursday began with Shakespeare. Leo was true to his word and worked with me to get my emotions out which he did. Leo only stopped working with me when I was performing my speech through sobs and tears and a runny nose. It felt great though because it was exactly what I needed. He also was super nice once I was done and let me leave the room to get water. We then experienced all kinds of crazy emotions because at one point, Leo imitated a raven by shrieking exceptionally loud, scaring the living daylights out of us all. Also when he was working on Torian's speech with him, which is when Angelo is threatening Isabella with rape and such, he shouted out "Your Penis!!" very loud and made Torian believe that he actually had to gesture to it during the speech. We then all dissolved into laughs over this for a long time. We then were told that we would receive our scenes from either Macbeth or Measure for Measure over the weekend. Then we had a break before our voice and dialects class which was nice to have because we had Simon again. He told us that he had been robbed over the weekend which is unfortunate and told us about how he learned this from Max, the local crackhead. We then worked on our speeches in RP and I actually did a lot better then I thought I would. Later that day, I had my Alexander appointment and Dee hit the nail on the head when she said I am too hard on myself and it is present in my body. Then I was done for the day and came back to my humble room.
Friday began with our first Dramatic Criticism class taught by Simon. We were talking about the bizarre play, Playing Cards and the discussion went really well because we learned about Robert Lepage first and got to have outside information. Simon is also a very great discussion person because he also adds to the discussion instead of just having us talk. We then had a nice long break before Acting with Kathy. She had broken the class into four time slots so that she could work on each scene one on one. I had a twenty minute session with her later in the class and I got to really work on both my text and my character. Then the day was done and I came home and passed out for the rest of the night, while working on the SPT paper I forgot we had been assigned.
Saturday morning, I slept in and could not figure out what to do for the life of me. I went to breakfast at the French Cafe and decided that I was going to go visit a store that I had been following online since I was a Freshmen in high school called Vivien of Holloway. It was in a rather nondescript place of London but the store was beautiful and I wanted every beautiful vintage reproduction item that they had. I then went to Borough Market and almost cried over the amount of cheese stands that existed in the area. I ended up getting some fresh made Pumpkin Tortellini, fresh mozzarella and ham on a stick and a heart shaped cookie filled with Jam. They were all amazing and I am dreaming about them now. Then I went over to Harrods just to get a cup of tea. I ended up wandering around the entire store and got no tea but saw all of the super expensive toys and other things. I then returned home and worked on my paper and watched movies that night. No partying for me this weekend. But I did get my scene for Shakespeare and I am playing Lady Macbeth in the scene where she torments Macbeth. I'm excited.
This Sunday morning, Laura and I decided to go to breakfast at a place called The Breakfast Club. The food was absolutly amazing, I have never had such a good breakfast in my life. I want to go back so badly. We went to their branch that was in Angel but they have four more that I plan on hitting up. We had to wait a long time for a table but it so was worth it. I then returned home and have been doing my work all day, much to my own depression.
And tommrow begins the new week. Here we go!
Bye-Bye!
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